Digital labour in transnational mobility: Chinese international students’ online boundary work in daigou

2020 ◽  
pp. 146144482093409
Author(s):  
Xinyu Zhao

Daigou, literally translated as buying on behalf of, is a Mandarin term that refers to a form of personalised transnational trading activity, which is generally characterised by practices of purchasing locally manufactured products overseas and reselling them to consumers in China via international courier services. This article examines Chinese international students’ digital labour invested in daigou and their use of social media, particularly WeChat, in running their personal enterprises. Through the analytical lens of ‘boundary’, the article reveals how daigou activities involve sustained crossing and reconstructing boundaries of privacy through selective self-disclosure of personal information. This study contributes to the empirical literature on international students’ everyday use of digital media by highlighting their work practices in the digital age. Conceptually, the case study of daigou suggests overlapping spaces between various forms of digital labour and the relevance of ‘unproductive’ labour which constitutes a necessary dimension of online work.

Koneksi ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 328
Author(s):  
Jovita Clarissa ◽  
H.H. Daniel Tamburian

Humans are social beings who need other individuals to group. In interacting with others, individuals will convey information and usually begin with an introduction relates to self disclosure, which is the type of individual communication disclosing information about himself is commonly concealed. Social media is a medium on the Internet that allows users to represent themselves, share, communicate with others and create virtual social ties. This research was intended to examine Instagram and Self Disclosure in an interpersonal communication perspective on the Santo Kristoforus II high school students to find out the activities of students on Instagram social media. Research based on Self-Disclosure theory, communication theory in the Digital Era, social media, and Instagram. Research uses a qualitative approach with case study methods. The results is that the self disclosure conducted by the informant is about daily activities, and the self disclosure is on Instagram involving several Self-Disclosure processes. In the process of Self-Disclosure, informants usually provide personal information such as feelings, thoughts and experiences, and they are also careful enough in uploading information to social mediaManusia disebut makhluk yang memerlukan seseorang untuk saling berhubungan timbal balik. Dalam berinteraksi dengan orang lain, individu akan menyampaikan berbagai informasi dan biasanya diawali dengan perkenalan mengenai dirinya, hal tersebut berkaitan dengan self disclosure, yakni jenis komunikasi individu mengungkapkan informasi tentang dirinya sendiri yang biasa disembunyikan. Media sosial saat ini digunakan penggunanya untuk berkomunikasi, membentuk relasi dengan orang lain secara virtual. Sehingga penelitian ini dimaksudkan untuk meneliti Instagram dan Self Disclosure dalam Perspektif Komunikasi Antarpribadi terhadap Siswa-Siswi SMA Santo Kristoforus II untuk mengetahui aktivitas siswa-siswi di media sosial Instagram. Penelitian berlandaskan teori Self-Disclosure, Teori Komunikasi di Era Digital, Media Sosial, dan Instagram. Penelitian menggunakan pendekatan kualitatif dengan metode studi kasus. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa pengungkapan diri yang dilakukan oleh informan berisi tentang aktivitas sehari-hari yang dilakukan, dan pengungkapan diri tersebut dilakukan dalam media sosial Instagram yang melibatkan beberapa proses pengungkapan diri. Dalam proses pengungkapan diri, informan biasanya memberikan informasi pribadi seperti perasaan, pikiran dan pengalaman. Dengan banyaknya informasi yang diberikan, tidak menutup kemungkinan mereka juga cukup berhati-hati dalam mengunggah informasi ke media sosial


Author(s):  
Venetis Kanakaris ◽  
Georgios Lampropoulos ◽  
Kerstin Siakas

Nowadays, social media and social networks are increasingly used in business as they have drastically changed the way the community works, communicates, collaborates, socialises, creates content and shares knowledge and ideas. However, in particular, IT professionals and practitioners need to be aware of online security and privacy issues and the potential negative impact that they may cause on different aspects of business, such as online breaches or information theft. The use of social media inevitably leads to disclosure of personal information, with the use of open-source intelligence (OSINT) and other similar techniques. Hence, the aim of this article is twofold, namely first to show results of a survey towards future Greek IT practitioners regarding awareness and viewpoints of social media users concerning security and privacy on social media. More specifically the study was based on responses and viewpoints of 178 Greek electrical engineering and IT students to an online questionnaire. Secondly, the aim is also to show how easily a potential malicious user can anonymously track and retrieve sensitive personal information in an automated and undetectable way from popular social media platforms by using publicly available information, resources, and tools. The results of the survey show that most of the respondents are aware of the privacy settings of the social media platforms they use. However, they consider that they should be more careful concerning personal data and whom they add as friends or followers and they do not feel comfortable with the fact that a stranger might be able to access their personal information through their publications on social media platforms.The case study indicates that it is possible for malicious users to acquire sensitive personal data (e.g. user's location via tweets and instas from smartphones). In addition, the ability to map activity could allow malicious users to track the activities of unsuspected users and predict their future locations.


2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 607-623 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tang T. Heng

Scholars have critiqued the current understanding of international students for glossing over its diversity, resulting in the reification of the “international student experience” as either homogeneous or clustered along nationality. Through a qualitative case study of 18 Chinese international students, this article examines the heterogeneity of their experiences despite a common nationality. Findings reveal that Chinese international students’ communication in English, engagement with subject content, preparation for the future, and participation in extracurricular activities vary by year of study, field of study, and, to a small extent, gender. Even within a single nationality, experiences of students are uneven and intersect across various categorical lines, suggesting the possibility that other international students may encounter diverse and intersectional experiences as well. Findings point to how we need to re-conceive and research international students by examining the heterogeneous nature of their experiences, and how higher education institutions can differentiate support given to internationals.


2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ling Cao ◽  
Tingting Zhang

This study aims to find out the relationship between the use of SNSs and educational adaptation process of Chinese international students (from China) in New Zealand. Based on interview data, this paper addressed how Chinese international students use SNSs (RenRen, Facebook, etc.) to expand and manage their online social networks to help their adaptation to new educational environment. As a case study of Chinese international students in New Zealand and from the narrative of students, we examined the relationship among educational difficulties, life satisfaction, and the use of SNSs. This study would help in further understanding how and why SNSs can be adopted in higher education to support effective overseas learning experiences.


Author(s):  
Xiudi Zhang

The study described in this paper examined the national identity tension that often occurs between Chinese international students and Western host country members. Research questions guiding the study were: How does the experience of studying in New Zealand provide challenges for Chinese international identity, and how do Chinese students reflect their cognitions of national identity in everyday life. Case study was used as a method to collect data from 20 Chinese international students. Cross-national discussions of China from the participants’ life experiences reveal a complex, sometimes contradictory, relationship between the individual and state, which is deeply rooted in Chinese culture and context, and provides a critical reflection on Chinese citizens. Drawing on interviews of Chinese students at a New Zealand university, this study showed that these Chinese international students are struggling with a changeable national identity which is relevant to their overseas experience, family history and education background.


Author(s):  
Chenwei Wu ◽  
Lynne M. Webb

We content analyzed the online messages of Chinese international students who are currently studying and living in the United States. We examined messages within the students' ethnic group as they sought and provided assistance to each other in understanding and acculturating to family life in the United States via a popular online forum. We randomly sampled 50 recent, original posts and their accompanying threads (147 pages of text containing 108,723 words). Thematic analysis indicated that students use the forum to achieve three objectives (seeking informational/emotional support, offering information/emotional support, offering topics for discussion) across a wide variety of family issues (e.g., conflict, child rearing/education, appropriate behaviors for husbands and wives). Users provided multiple types of assistance (e.g., informational/emotional support, topics of discussion, questions based on the original posts, self-disclosure, positive feedback, and negative feedback) to the posters.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 25-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deyu (Cindy) Xing ◽  
Benjamin Bolden

This article reports a multiple case study to explore the lived academic acculturation experiences of four Chinese international students with limited oral English capacity and how they describe the relationship between low oral English proficiency and academic acculturation. Self-Determination Theory was utilized as the theoretical framework to inform data collection and analysis. Findings indicated all four Chinese students experienced significant psychological stress during their academic acculturation as a direct result of their limited spoken English capacity, which negatively impacted their sense of competence, autonomy and particularly relatedness. Emotional pain, involuntary isolation, helplessness, and regret emerged as the salient themes from the cross-case analysis. Implications for various stakeholders are discussed.


2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 63
Author(s):  
Wahid Abdulrahman, dkk

In order to improve the performance of Central Java Parliament, social media has been used as a tool that is easy, inexpensive, and could reach all segments throughout the region of Central Java. This study aimed to evaluate the use of social media in the implementation of the functions of legislators to communicate with the public. This research is a qualitative research with case study method. Capturing data through in-depth interviews to Central Java Parliament members who are active in social media and the public in their networks. The results of the study consisted of three things. First, social media is used by members of the Central Java Parliament for three reasons: (1) communicate the functions of the parliament (legislative, control, and budget); (2) communicate with the public in order to listen public needs and get feedback; (3) a means of self entertainment by using social media as a tool to express their selves and share personal information. Second, related to the function of the parliament which has been communicated through social media, the control function is the most frequent performed. While the legislative function performed moderately, and the budget function as the most rarely communicated. Third, public informants in social media networks of Central Java parliament members perceives the them as representatives of the people who actually work for the people. Keywords: social media, members of the board, the function of parliamen.


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